Gravity

It took over a week before it hit me as to why I liked the movie Gravity so much - because it reminded me of living with type I diabetes, because I am comfortable with jumping from one situation to the next.

I won't ruin the movie for you by exposing specific plot points - This paragraph will include some basic information but nothing that isn't inferred in the movie's trailer. The film begins with astronauts in space fixing the Hubble telescope, almost immediately, some bad stuff happens and that stuff leaves Sandra Bullock drifting for her life. Every time poor Sandy completes a dangerous and nearly impossible task that she believes will save her, some other amazingly difficult obstacle appears and she must begin again. Each time she must conquer the new obstacle without so much as a moment to take a deep breath. I very much enjoyed that aspect of the film, the "out of the frying pan" and into another frying pan aspect, that is. I found myself strongly identifying with it and the character's insistence on not giving up. 

During the ride home my family, as we always do, discussed what we liked or didn't like about the movie. I found myself saying that I enjoyed the movie, yes the special effects were great and I even liked the use of 3-D but what I enjoyed most was that the plot felt like real life to me. It felt like the way I live. Not the part about being in space or the slightly over the top scenarios that the characters found themselves in. It was the immediacy of the peril and the unrelenting nature of the situations. Type I diabetes is many things, but perhaps more than the rest, it's persistence and constant feeling of presence that it creates is, for me, it's define characteristic. Some days dealing with diabetes feels like being a tired swimmer whose trying to crawl to shore. Just as we wipe the salt from our eyes and spit out the remainder of the last onslaught, another wave appears from the calm and knocks us over. 

I loved the way that the main character faced each new challenge with the same determination as she had for the last. It was the message that if you want to live, you do this thing. There is no time to complain, not a moment to spare and you can afford to feel sorry or yourself - living is moving, reacting and doing. I feel like that's our life and I guess since I didn't hate the movie, I must finally be comfortable with this narrative as my reality. It feels good to look for the next path to follow when a roadblock appears, I much prefer that feeling of "I can do this", to the weight of, "Oh no, not something else". 

Comments

[Maria Mancino]

Thank you for sharing. We are new to the diagnosis (July) and my daughter is 10. She has had some real ups/downs and I have a hard time trying to convince her she will be OK.

I look forward to the movie even more now!